As is evident in the powerpoint presentations above, religions diffuse over the land and impact the landscape. As geographers, we have to ask where the religions began and where have they diffused to. Once we know that, we can begin to figure out why it happened that way.
From the geographic perspective, we can break religions into two separate camps: universalizing and ethnic religions. Universalizing religions are those that attempt to attract people from all over the world. These religions often prosyletize or send missionaries out to diffuse their belief system. Often, but not always (i.e. Buddhism and Bahai), they believe that theirs is the only true religion. Examples of universalizing religions are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Ethnic religions, on the other hand, are those that are unique to a particular area and people. They do not try to diffuse their beliefs. These religions often belong to native groups. For example, the Yanomamo people found in the Amazon region of Venezuela have unique religious rituals which include mixing the ashes of the dead with bananas to make a stew which is then consumed at the funeral. The Yanomamo are not interested in spreading their religion (and you are probably not interested in joining).
Religions also impact the landscape. Most often this impact comes in the form of places of worship. Each religion has developed distinctive forms of architecture as well. For a quick comparitive overview of some of these, see "Religions on the landscape" and the krysstal religions slide show.
Religions also impact the landscape in other ways. Read this brief web site on the role of cattle in Hindu India. There, the landscape, diet, and culture have been altered due to religious beliefs. In North America, most people belong to religions of the Christian tradition. Please read this excellent geographic breakdown of North American Religions. Be sure to look at the numerous maps.
You probably don't think about the affect religion has had on your landscape. But in numerous places in North America, the affect has been profound. On his North American Culture site, Professor Vogeler (UW-SP) has keyed in on several of these places. Please look at the Roman Catholics of Minnesota, The Mormons, the Hutterites and Mennonites, and the French Canadian Catholics. How was the landscape changed by each?
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In the study of human geography, a universalizing religion is a religion that attempts to operate on a global scale and to appeal to all people wherever they reside, compared to an ethnic religion which primarily attracts one group of people living in one place. Most universalizing religions are divided into branches, denominations, and sects. By far the most practiced universalizing religion is Christianity. Islam and Buddhism are other large universalizing religions.[1] About 62% of the world's population identify with a universalizing religion, with about 24% adhering to an ethnic religion and 14% to no religion in particular.
Characteristics
Foundation, Age, and Nature of Ceremonies
Universalizing religions can usually be traced to a single founder, a result of the fact that most universalizing religions are younger than ethnic religions. For example, Christianity can be traced to Christ, Islam can be traced to Muhammad, and Buddhism can be traced to Siddhartha Gautama ("the Buddha"). These religions can be traced back to their founders because they were established within recorded history, a characteristic of all universalizing religions. In fact, almost all universalizing religions were founded Anno Domini, with the notable exception being Buddhism.
Another notable characteristic of universalizing religions that stems from their having known founders is the nature of their ceremonies.[2] Most universalizing religions' holidays and ceremonies correspond to events in the lives of their founders. For example, the major Christian holidays of Easter and Christmas correspond to significant events in the life of Christ, with several minor holidays corresponding to the lives of saints.
Conversion
Yet another characteristic of universalizing religions that are rarely found in ethnic religions is the ease of conversion. Because most universalizing religions operate on a global scale, conversion to universalizing religions is usually relatively easy and highly encouraged by practitioners of the faith. Some universalizing religions, like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, diffused through the use of missionaries to travel with the intent of encouraging those met along the way to convert. Some even may force conversion through conquest, as Islam did in the first half of the second millennium AD. From the 17th through the early 20th centuries, Christianity was primarily spread through European countries' colonization of places like North and South America and Africa.
Cults
Cults exhibit many characteristics of universalizing religions, including having specific founders and a mission to convert. Some argue that universalizing religions started out as cults and grew to religious status over the years, though others argue that to say such a thing would be to demean the world's largest and most powerful religions.
List of Universalizing Religions
This list may be impartial, but these are by far the most notable and largest universalizing religions.[3]
- Christianity
- Islam
- Buddhism
- Sikhism
- Bahá'í
- ↑ Rubenstein, James M. (2008). The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-134681-4.
- ↑ Rubenstein, James M. (2008). The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-134681-4.
- ↑ Rubenstein, James M. (2008). The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography. Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-134681-4.
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EAA readers are surely aware that most major world religions originated in Asia. Universal Religions in World History, a concise text by Donald and Jean Elliot Johnson, therefore, is worth a review in this journal. In just over 200 pages, the authors have managed to include a remarkable array of information. The basic premise is that three religions, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, stand out as universalizing religions, having spread throughout the world. Although these three are prominently emphasized, other religions are included. There is a short explanation of both Judaism and Hinduism, since these two faiths provided a setting for Christianity and Buddhism, respectively. The final chapter has a small section on Sikhism.
The book is helpful in some important ways. At the beginning of each of the five chapters is a box entitled “Getting Started” with about ten essential questions to guide readers. Teachers using this text would find it especially useful to ask students to consider these questions before reading the chapter, and then base discussion on them.
The last chapter examines several intriguing themes, including the underlying theme, as the authors point out, of “the slow and subtle process” of conversion. Throughout the ambitious scope of this text, students will gain an impression of how urbanization contributed to religious diffusion. Readers will find succinct and intriguing descriptions of the great cities of Baghdad and Cordoba. There is little attention to Central Asia, however, thus no account of Timur and his city, Samarkand. Yet one will learn why Karballa is important for the Shi’a in Iraq. The treatment of Mongol religion in this last chapter is also very interesting.
This book does have some problems that need revision for a future edition. It concludes with a set of endnotes, but has no bibliography—students would appreciate an annotated bibliography with suggestions for further reading. There is only one primary source about Japan in the endnotes. While the authors give much attention to Zen and Pure Land Buddhism in Japan, they mention Nichiren only briefly and without the important context of the Kamakura period. Readers interested in China will notice that some names are spelled using Pinyin and some using Wade-Giles, with no apparent reason for inconsistency. Confucian and Daoist thought are mentioned only very briefly, with incomplete definitions of wu wei as “non-action,” li as “proper action,” and ren as “appropriate feelings.” Baha’i is given fleeting treatment as “a more recent example of eclectic religious synthesis.”
There are three small maps, one for each of the three universalizing religions. These maps, however, do not include many of the places and regions featured in the text. The map showing the spread of Islam, for example, shows no place east of the Indus or south of the Red Sea, even though there is considerable text coverage about Islam in India, Indonesia, and East Africa. The book could also make greater use of primary sources and stories that are important to help students understand religions. For students of religion and world history, epic tales serve to fascinate as well as instruct. This book includes some photographs of art, but could be greatly enhanced with more attention to Buddhist and Christian art, as well as Islamic calligraphy.
Nevertheless, the authors offer interesting perspectives about religion. I recommend using this book as one of several comparative student texts. Teachers and students would gain much by reviewing multiple sources to study an extensive range of maps, read the fascinating stories found in religious texts, and appreciate the art and calligraphy that are so very important to religion.
PATRICK GRANT is the History Department Head at University Prep in Seattle, Washington. He teaches courses in Chinese History, Japanese History, and World Religions.